Today, back in 2000AD-land, we look at the early editions of the short-lived Starlord in which we see the first appearances of a few characters who would go on to have long runs in 2000AD...cover art by Ramon Sola, Brian Bolland, Kevin O'Neill, Carlos Ezquerra and Ron Embleton

No you don't. You don't want to be old and decrepit like those of us who either remember it first time round, or who at least remember the 2000AD merger. Ah, the legendary days when Tharg used to extract the urine out of Wolfie Smith because it turned out not to be a popular import, and me thinking "Well you shouldn't have had it tranferred if it were that bad!" Little knowing that I would turn out to be a bigger and older duffer...

I had those early editions of Starlord as well...I can't remember exactly, as my copies are long gone, but I don't think it's so much that they were slightly larger but more that the dimensions were slightly different...not quite as wide as the standard IPC titles of the time such as 2000AD, and on better quality paper...probably similar to the difference with the (new) Eagle revamp several years later when it changed format 18 months or so into its run, going from a quality paper back to standard (and cheaper!) newsprint.

We go back to the pulp era today with a look at some of the work of Frank R Paul, one of the great sci-fi artists of the 1920s/30s. Paul's work defined the look of science fiction for a generation, and became the template for future artists; he was the artist who originally designed the flying saucer look which obviously became a huge influence on the genre to this day. He may not have been the greatest artist in the world, but he certainly had a great imagination and his work is entertainlng to say the least...his visions of life on other planets in our solar system may not be scientifically accurate but are great fun!

What I really like about those "Life On..." pieces are how they show humans interacting peacefully and communicating with the alien lifeforms. Can you imagine such pieces if commisioned today? The humans would probably be running in terror from the insectoids of Mercury, or trying to wipe them out...there's just a charming naivety about them which I love. We'll see more from this guy in due course...

From 1977, this was my introduction to Logans Run. The TV series was broadcast soon after this ended, but it seemed totally different to this and caused me some confusion...it would be several years before I'd finally get a chance to see the original movie. This Marvel series was cut short after 7 issues with an unfinished storyline ending on a cliffhanger, as Marvel didn't actually have the rights to continue the story beyond the movie adaptation which ended with issue 5...

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